Iraq: ongoing conflict claims hundreds of civilian lives every month

13-08-2009 News Release 09/159

Baghdad (ICRC) – Despite the common perception that the armed conflict in Iraq is largely over, widespread violence and a lack of respect for human life continue to affect the Iraqi people. Civilians are the primary victims.

Mass explosions and indiscriminate attacks are claiming the lives of hundreds and leaving thousands more wounded every month, mainly in Baghdad, Ninewa and Diyala governorates.

" In these three governorates, many Iraqis fear for their lives whenever they leave their homes, as anyone could be hit simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, " said Juan-Pedro Schaerer, head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for Iraq. " The level of insecurity remains high and should not be accepted as somehow'normal'or unavoidable. "

The ICRC seizes the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions to stress that the basic rules of the law of armed conflict remain as important as ever, and that a distinction should always be drawn between combatants and those taking no part in hostilities. Iraqi civilians must be respected and spared acts of hostility.